Mating Games 4: Saturday Night!
by Kimberly T
Summary: It's Saturday Night in New Orleans, one of the best party towns in the USA! The gargoyles and their dates are out for a night of fun... so why isn't Brooklyn happy? COMPLETE! 29th in Life Goes On series.
1. Are We There Yet?

**LIFE GOES ON**

**MATING GAMES PART 4:**

**Saturday Night!**

By Kimberly T. (email: kimbertow -at- yahoo dot com)

Standard disclaimers and acknowledgments apply. I'm not making a dime of profit; please don't sue.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**4.1: "Are we there yet?"**

"_Another Saturday Night, and I ain't got nobody_…"

For the first time **_ever_**, Brooklyn actually wished that was true.

Oh yeah, Lex was having a blast; he and Rebecca were sitting on the opposite bench in the New Orleans Clan's delivery truck, singing merrily along with the music from the radio. They'd been talking and laughing together just about nonstop since climbing into the truck; when they weren't singing along with the radio, they were talking about computers and Internet websites and about what had to be the coincidence of the century: that as "Braveheart" and "LadyHawke", they had unknowingly 'met' in chat rooms online over five months before actually meeting in person!

Brooklyn was sitting on the other side of the truck with Marie, his scheduled date for the night. He'd also been singing along with the radio, and nonverbally encouraging Marie to join in the fun. Since they were all stuck inside the truck for over an hour as it drove from the clan's estate to their "safe house" in the heart of New Orleans, they might as well all get along, right?

But it wasn't working. As much as Lex and Rebecca were talking to each other, they were **_not_** talking to Marie. Brooklyn could certainly understand why; he'd heard that Marie had said something pretty insulting to Lex on their first night here, and it was obvious she'd been treating Rebecca badly for years, probably since they were hatchlings together. And other than one comment, that the pair of them were well-suited for each other (and she somehow made that sound like an insult too), Marie had been doing her best to pretend the other two didn't exist.

Which left Brooklyn feeling caught in the middle; exactly where he didn't want to be. Dammit, why had he agreed to Marie being included in the dating schedule? He flat-out did not like her. More than that, he actually _dis_liked her! Because she had already made it perfectly clear, in the way she had acted towards her sisters and even some slips in her behavior towards him, that she was an uncaring bitch who wanted the status of being mate to the second-in-command, not Brooklyn himself.

But since he and his clan were all guests in this territory, he couldn't just tell Marie to pack gravel and get out of his sight, like he would have if she'd been a member of the old clan in Scotland. He had to be polite… and so far, his trying to politely ignore her hadn't worked worth a damn; she'd just tried even harder to monopolize his attention and shove the others away. And he knew that Angela had been right, when she'd said that Marie had to be included in the dating schedule; otherwise, Marie would have found some way to sabotage his dates with the others.

He was fully aware of the irony, but he still wished that he had come on this trip without any female companionship. Yeah, it would have been a bummer watching Lex and Rebecca all wrapped up in their happiness, but he knew his rookery brother, and had some idea of how nice Rebecca was; they would have tried to include him in the fun from time to time. Even being a 'third wing', or 'fifth wheel' as the humans said, would have been better than being stuck with somebody he really didn't want to be with.

Well, hopefully the night wouldn't be a total loss. They were going to see the sights in New Orleans! The Big Easy! THE place in the whole U.S. of A. for Mardi Gras! Where the motto pretty much all year round was "_Laissez les bontemps rouler_", French for "Let the good times roll!"

Brooklyn was also going to meet five more gargoyles; the people who had been on patrol duty since his clan's arrival and had yet to make their acquaintance. All Brooklyn knew about them was that four of them were mated pairs who naturally preferred to patrol together; one pair from Rebecca and Marie's generation (Martin and Cecilia) and another from the generation before (Lucy and Erasmus.) And that the fifth gargoyle was a male named Robert; Rebecca's closest rookery brother.

Brooklyn paused as he thought about that, having just realized that he didn't know who Robert was mated to. Of course, he'd have been hard put to name any other female besides the five single ladies who had been hounding him since the night he arrived—well, them and Ursula, the matronly figure who had helped to organize the dating schedule—but still, it was a bit odd that no one had mentioned her name, and that Robert was spending four nights in town without her; most mates didn't like to be apart that long if they could help it. Unless they were having really bad relationship troubles, which might be why she hadn't been mentioned yet…

Well, better to ask now, while Robert wasn't present, than make some stupid assumption and possibly an even more stupid slip of the tongue when they met. So he asked Rebecca, "Say, who is Robert mated to?"

Rebecca had been laughing with Lex about some esoteric Internet joke, but at Brooklyn's words she fell silent. So Marie spoke up instead, with a distinctly unkind smile on her face. "Oh, didn't anyone tell you? Robert doesn't have a mate. He's--"

"**_Shut up, Marie_**!" Rebecca was suddenly on her feet, her eyes glowing crimson and her wings flared. Marie and Brooklyn both drew back in surprise as she hissed, "If you say one word, just one nasty word about Robert, so help me, I'll—_I'll put Nair in your feather-wash_!"

And Lexington chimed in with a nasty smile, "And I'll take pictures afterwards. Rebecca and I were just talking about how to blow photos up to poster-size…"

Marie glared red-hot daggers at both of them, but kept her mouth shut. Brooklyn was impressed; evidently, Rebecca didn't get mad often, but when she did, she was considered the wrong sort of person to cross. And she was faster to defend her brother than herself; very admirable. And really, she was pretty in a petite sort of way…

Then he realized what he was doing, and grimaced. _Oh, knock it off, Brook_, he scolded himself. So Rebecca had good qualities, some of them far better than Marie; she was obviously happy with Lex now, and vice versa! And if he'd really been attracted to her, he would have said or done something back in Manhattan, when she'd been just about crawling into his lap. No, he was just attracted to her now because he was stuck with Marie at the moment; like wanting someone else's hamburger when your steak turned out to be tainted and inedible.

Besides, there was something else that hadn't been resolved yet. Rebecca and Marie were in a glaring match at the moment, so he gestured Lex to move a few feet away with him, then said very quietly, "So, without saying any nasty words, what's up with this Robert guy?"

Lex admitted in a whisper, "Actually, I'm pretty 404 on him."

Brooklyn blinked at him. "Uh… 404?"

"Sorry, computer slang. Code 404 is 'file not found'; I don't know anything about him. I was just backing up Rebecca's threat."

Brooklyn blinked again. "Because you like her so much, or because you don't like--"

"Both."

Well, that was clear enough. But he was still in the dark about Robert. So once everyone had sat down again, he politely asked Marie to let Rebecca do the talking about her rookery brother, then looked expectantly at Rebecca.

Rebecca looked at the floor for a moment, then looked up and said earnestly, "Robert hasn't had a mate that the clan ever _officially_ acknowledged, but he did have a lover… a human lover. They were happy together for over five years. But this last April, just before Easter, there was a car accident during the day, and… Robert is alone now."

"Poor guy," Lex commented with sympathy.

"Yeah. If anything ever happened to Elisa during the day… I don't think Goliath could handle it." Brooklyn gave an internal shudder at the thought of what might happen to the clan someday, then forcibly put it out of his mind, to think about more fun topics. "So, is it true what I've heard, that some folks down here wear Mardi Gras-type costumes all year long?"

"Just a few people, but they're out there! Some folks are so into costuming that they have more than one costume they want to wear, or something really wild that they want to practice making and wearing, before the big event. So they wear the less fancy or experimental ones at any time during the year, but all the really elaborate costumes are saved for Mardi Gras." Rebecca also told him and Lex about the places where the perpetual costume-wearers usually hung out, comparing costumes and giving tips to new costumers, and promised that it would be one of the places they would visit tonight.

Then Marie spoke up, saying haughtily while she might guide Brooklyn to that area herself, she didn't want anyone thinking that the four of them were actually on a double date; she had no intention of sticking around the cyber-geeks longer than she had to!

To which Lex replied hotly that he had no intention of sharing atmosphere with Marie any longer than he absolutely had to, and Brooklyn had to step in again before the squabble became a full-blown fight.

But even as Brooklyn put on his best authoritative second-in-command expression and posture, and got the rest to back off and settle down, he couldn't help reflecting that he'd expected better from this clan. They already had a half-human leader, and after that initial faux pas they'd had no trouble accepting Elisa as Goliath's mate; why hadn't they accepted Robert's human girlfriend as his mate?

Maybe Robert's scent hadn't changed, the way Goliath's had changed even before he and Elisa had officially become mates. Hudson had said once that there'd been another gargoyle-human couple back in old Wyvern, back before Brooklyn's egg had even been laid, but the clan had never officially acknowledged them because the male had never acquired a 'bonded' scent; they'd just been sex-partners, not life-partners.

Well, anyway, that question was answered. Now if Robert made some sad comment about his dead lover, Brooklyn would express his condolences and say that he was sure she'd been a lovely lady, and her death was a loss to both species. Though he sincerely hoped the subject wouldn't come up; Brooklyn had had enough misery already tonight. If he were a Catholic, like most of the gargoyles down here were supposed to be, he'd definitely be asking God to let this trip count towards time served in Purgatory.

_To be continued…_


	2. Deer Miss Dubois

**4.2: "Deer Miss DuBois"**

"_Another Saturday Night, and I ain't got nobody_…"

Broadway frowned at the radio playing in the kitchen, then reached out and changed the channel with a flick of his talon. Sometimes, those songs on the radio were just a little too close to the truth.

Not that the song really applied to him, oh no! He had a girlfriend, heck, almost a fiancée; she just wasn't down in the kitchen at the moment. Angela was still in the library working with Benedict, this clan's chronicler, to translate some really old diaries or something from Latin. Brooklyn had helped last night after he'd gotten clear of the ladies chasing him, and they'd translated four of those old books, but Angela had said there were still three more to go.

Broadway wished he could help with that translating, too, but he'd never learned to read Latin… heck, he still had trouble with English sometimes! Though he was getting a lot better at it every night, practicing by reading every newspaper Elisa gave him, and every mystery book that Matt gave him. But Latin was still and probably always would be completely beyond him, so it was better if he just stayed out of the way and let her work. But he was sure that even though they were physically apart right now, she was loving him, just like he was loving her.

But poor Martha, over at the stove lackadaisically stirring a pot of gumbo, was another story. Tonight, she really didn't have anybody. Of the three single guys that had come down from New York (Broadway didn't count himself; his heart was already spoken for), Lexington had already pretty much decided on Rebecca. They'd been together nearly every minute since the evening of the _fais__ do-do_, when Lex and Rebecca had found out they actually knew each other already, as "Braveheart" and "LadyHawke". They were always talking and laughing, and holding hands and twining tails; showing every sign of fast-growing affection and attraction. Lex would probably ask Goliath to conduct a mating ceremony for them, some time after Goliath was finished with his and Elisa's "second honeymoon".

Even Hudson had apparently found himself a potential mate already, from what Broadway had seen just before dawn that morning; he'd been holding hands and twining tails with Ursula, an older female who'd been widowed years ago. And just moments before the sun rose, Hudson had actually leaned over and given her a human-style kiss on the cheek! And Ursula had giggled like a female half her age… so far as Broadway knew, they'd gone to their stone slumber still holding hands and tails.

Brooklyn was the only one of the three who hadn't plainly decided on somebody already, but tonight he was going into the city on a date with Marie. And as Brooklyn had quietly confided to Broadway just before dawn, he was really more interested in two of Martha's other rookery sisters, Yvette and Isabel. So for this Saturday night, when it came to romance, Martha really "ain't got nobody."

Broadway really felt sympathy for Martha; he knew what it was like to be alone and feel unwanted by the opposite sex. Back in the old time, before the massacre, Brooklyn had been making courtship gestures with at least three different females at one time or another; not overly serious about any of them yet, but as interested in the ladies as they were clearly interested in him. While Broadway hadn't been able to get a female to even go on a glide with him, unless it was for patrol duties.

He said as much to Martha, as she was showing him how to make the basic stock for most varieties of gumbo, the not-quite-stew that was traditional fare down here. "Then when Angela joined the clan, everybody wanted her to choose one of us, and for a while there I was sure she'd choose Brooklyn instead of me. But now… you could say we're sort-of engaged! She's already told me she'll choose me!"

(And he firmly told that voice in the back of his skull to shut up and go away; the little voice reminding him that the mating ceremony was contingent on his losing weight. She'd said she wanted him to lose enough weight that they'd be sure he could catch her on the breeding flights. And right now, with his left wing so horribly scarred and so weak he could barely fly at all…)

"That's good, that you have that assurance already," Martha said with a wistful smile. "If you don't mind my asking… you said that for a while you were sure she was going to choose Brooklyn. What did you do to help her consider you instead?"

Broadway paused. Even if he did tell her about the turning point, or what he was pretty sure was the turning point… what were the odds that she could make the same thing happen for her?

There was absolutely no chance at all. No chance that Martha's clan would suddenly encounter a creature like Coldstone, with more than one spirit trapped inside his cyborg body, as well as a meddling Fey that would do the spell to transfer the spirits to other mortal shells. Spirits that, like Coldstone and Coldfire had done while housed inside Broadway and Angela, would then take near-full advantage of the opportunity for "pleasures of the flesh", unwittingly teaching their hosts **_a_** **_lot_** about giving and receiving sexual pleasure in the process. And even if people like that did suddenly appear out of the night sky, there was absolutely no way Brooklyn would agree to house somebody else's spirit again; not after the way Coldsteel had brutally used him to attack the rest of the clan. So what would be the point of telling her?

"I just kept showing interest, kept doing little nice things for Angela, like baking her brownies and finding new books for her to read," he told Martha instead. "And I never tried to be somebody I'm not, because I knew that if she fell in love with some kind of false image I'd given her, we'd both end up miserable. So that's the best advice I can give you; show interest, do little things to show him you care, but always be yourself."

Martha sighed. "That's just what Ursula told me, back when I was hoping Adelbert would choose me… but he ultimately chose Joan."

"Well… some pairings are just meant to be, and some aren't. And even pairings that are meant to be, two people obviously made for each other right from the start, don't always have an easy time of it. Take Goliath and Elisa, for example. They may be different species, but Elisa is pure gargoyle at heart, and it didn't take long for everyone to realize that _and_ to realize that she and Goliath were made to soar together. But it took them over two years to finally admit it to each other, and officially become mates. And even Angela and I have had our rough spots…"

But Broadway was saved from having to talk about those same rough spots, when someone outside the kitchen called in, "Martha, you home?"

Martha brightened, and she replied by calling out, "Of course I am! Come on in, Richard!"

A human male in his mid-twenties, with caramel-colored skin, dreadlocked hair and a big smile, came into the kitchen with a cardboard box under his arm. "Got the galley proofs; they came in today's mail! Oh, hey, didn't know you had company! Broadway, right? I'm Richard Dubois; I was out here for the big welcome/Thanksgiving dinner, but I spend most of my time in town."

"Richard is my closest human friend, practically a rookery brother," Martha told Broadway with a smile. "He works for a private investigating firm; 'Oglethorpe and Pratt'."

"Which, starting next year, is going to be 'Oglethorpe, Pratt and Dubois'," Richard said with a grin.

"They're making you a partner? That's great!" Martha gave Richard a big hug.

"Oglethorpe gave me the news this morning," Richard said with a grin. "And it's all thanks to you, Martin and Cecilia; with your help, I'm closing out twice as many cases as anyone else!" He explained to Broadway with a wink, "Some folks are just better than others at aerial surveillance and nighttime stakeouts."

Martha added, "A few of us go into town from time to time, to help him out on some of his assigned cases. And then Richard helps me out with my writing! I couldn't do it without him."

"Eh, I just help you with a few details about stuff that happens in daytime and inside a PI firm, and talk to the editor for you," Richard said with a shrug as he set the box on a table and lifted the flaps. "The rest of it's all your work."

"What work?" Broadway asked, completely confused. "What's this about writing?"

"What, didn't I tell you about it already?" Martha looked at him in surprise, then looked rueful. "I guess I didn't; I've been all wrapped up in Brooklyn and the competition."

"Hey, how's that working out for you?" Richard asked with concern on his features, looking up at Martha as he finished opening the box. Broadway could see two large soft-covered books inside the box, and when he cocked his head just a bit, he could make out the title and author's name:

**_Sweet Lies_** by Martha Dubois.

"_Sweet Lies_!" Forgetting all his manners, Broadway plunged his hands into the box and pulled out the book on top. He cradled it in his hands almost reverently as he breathed, "The next in the series…" Then he looked at Martha and Richard with eyes the size of saucers. "_You're Martha Dubois_!"

"Well… she's Martha, and I'm a Dubois," Richard said with a shrug and a faintly concerned look; he traded a glance with Martha that said he hadn't been expecting _that_ strong a reaction.

"Y-you wrote '_Gumshoe Gumbo_'! And '_A Dish to Die For_'! And '_A Taste For Mayhem_'! Matt Bluestone and I have copies of all of your books!" Broadway exclaimed.

That's when Richard grinned in understanding. "Martha… I do believe you are finally meeting one of your fans!"

"Oh, yeah, I'm a fan!" Broadway said fervently. "I even wrote you a letter last spring, to say how much I enjoyed your books!"

"You wrote…" And now it was Martha's turn to gape in astonishment. "Sweet Jesus, you're _that_ Broadway!" She grabbed Richard's arm as she said, "Remember that letter? Where we thought someone was doing a 'Dear Abby' and using his location for a signature, instead of his name?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I remember that one! Do you still have it?" Richard asked.

"I sure do; I keep all the fan mail, in a file at my writing desk..."

Ten minutes later, Martha opened a three-ring binder and flipped past several papers that were covered in plastic "page protectors", until she found the paper she was looking for. With an embarrassed smile, she held it out so Broadway could see his own handwriting, a letter he'd written nearly eight months ago:

Deer Miss Dubois,

Hello! I am writing to say that I really like your books and I think you are a good writer and a great cook. "A Dish to Die For" is the best book I have ever read. My favorite part is when Herbert is cornered in the wear house and Irmina saves him with the cooking oil. My favorite dish is the oyster stew. I made it just like your recipe said, and it is really tasty. I hope you write more books soon.

Sincerely,

Broadway

in Manhattan

Rereading the words he'd written last spring, Broadway blushed. He'd misspelled 'dear'! And 'warehouse'! Gee, what Martha must think of him now…

"I think this is my favorite piece of fan mail," Martha said with a fond smile. "I could tell immediately that someone had gone to a fair amount of trouble, just to tell me how much they liked what I had written."

"Well, it wasn't that much trouble; Matt loaned me his stationery, and gave me a stamp for the envelope," Broadway said as he rubbed his neck and looked at his toe-talons. He absolutely would not admit that he'd written that letter three times, and crumpled up the first two drafts after Lexington said his handwriting was still too much of a scrawl for strangers to understand. And why hadn't Lexington said something about the misused words, huh? A real pal sometimes, his rookery brother…

Martha gave him a shy smile. "So, what did you think of 'A Taste for Mayhem'?"

"Oh, that was even better than the last!" Matt had given Broadway a copy of the book the night after the mutates had gotten married in the Labyrinth, and Broadway had stayed on his perch all night to read it from cover to cover. He'd been having so much fun reading, he almost hadn't gotten anything to eat that night! He told Martha and Richard, "I wanted to write you a letter about that one too, but life's been so crazy lately that I just haven't had time. But I just about fell off my perch from laughing, when Herbert got cornered on the docks, and all he could find for weapons was that pile of shrimp straight off the shrimp boat! And then there was Irmina's meeting with the mayor in that bordello, wearing that chicken outfit…"

Richard solemnly raised his hand as he said, "Based on a true story; my hand to God! Except it wasn't the mayor, but a council member. And he swore up and down that he was dressed as a red-tailed hawk, even if he looked to me like a big brown chicken!"

Everyone burst out laughing… and Broadway was still chuckling fifteen minutes later, when he made a phone call to New York. "Hey, Matt! Just wanted to call you to let you know we're all having a great time down here in New Orleans. And to let you know that when we come back, I'll be carrying a full set of books for the 'Gumshoe Gumbo' series, including a galley proof for the next one due out in the spring! And all of them personally autographed by the author…"

_To be continued…_


	3. Meet Bobbyhorse

**4.3: Meet 'Bobbyhorse'**

Finally, _finally_ the truck reached the clan's safe house. As soon as the truck pulled into the garage and the garage door closed, Brooklyn bounded out, desperate to get away from the stifling atmosphere that had accumulated during the long drive in. And in so doing, he nearly ran right over the gargoyle who had been waiting in the shadows for them.

"Whoa!" Brooklyn and the other gargoyle said in unison, as they barely avoided a collision with each other. As he backed off, Brooklyn saw before him a royal-blue equine gargoyle, with black feathered wings and a long black mane that spilled in front of his eyes. Brooklyn apologized, "Sorry about that…"

"What's the rush?" the blue male asked, before looking over Brooklyn's shoulder. Then his eyes narrowed, and he gave a positively equine snort. Brooklyn turned around to see Marie stepping out of the truck, as the blue male muttered, "Never mind; question answered."

But right after Marie got out, Rebecca and Lexington got out together, and Rebecca bounded over with a joyous shout of "Robert!" After giving the blue male one of those rib-crushing hugs that she was rapidly becoming infamous for, she introduced them all. "Robert, this is Lexington, and you already met Brooklyn; guys, this is Robert, my rookery brother, best buddy and closest friend in the world until you came into town."

Robert assumed an injured look and staggered back with his hand over his heart. "I'm not your closest friend anymore! Oh, the agony of rejection!" Then he straightened up and grinned. "So, this is 'Braveheart', hm? That has to be the biggest coincidence of the decade, meeting each other online without knowing it."

"Sure is; now we're wondering if there are any other gargoyles out there online," Lexington said with a grin.

"There was one for a short while; I'm assuming 'Becca told you about my trying the chat rooms for a while under the nickname of 'Bobbyhorse'…?"

"Yeah, she told me that last night," Lex replied. "So why did you stop?"

Robert shrugged. "Just not to my liking; if I'm going to talk to somebody, I'd rather be in the same room with them, or at least talking over a phone."

"Same here," Brooklyn threw into the conversation, from while glancing back at Marie. Sure enough, she was giving Robert a look of cool disdain, as if Robert wasn't good enough for her somehow. Why, Brooklyn couldn't figure; his quick first impression of Robert was of a decent enough gargoyle, both in physique and in attitude. But he reminded himself that Marie was status-hungry, and if Robert had no aspirations of being the clan's leader or second in command, or even head rookery keeper, then the blue male probably wouldn't serve Marie's purposes.

"Where are the others? Did they leave on patrol already?" Rebecca asked.

"Yes, they're gone, but no, not on patrol yet.. We've got a stakeout tonight; Keith called and said the NOPD had a tip about a crack house operating out of a house on Decatur. All four of them are over there right now, keeping aerial surveillance until the police crack the place open. I stayed here to greet y'all, but later on I'll be going over to relieve Martin and Cecilia so they can patrol."

"But you've been patrolling without a partner for the last three nights, haven't you?" Rebecca said with a troubled look. "That still isn't right…"

"Hey, Adam had a good reason to call Isabel back to the estate early; so all the ladies could meet you new guys together," as Robert glanced at Lex and Brook. "And I've been careful, calling for backup when I think I might need it and checking in twice as often as usual. I've been very careful, unlike a certain somebody who went out gliding in New York, as gold as a harvest moon… Oh yes, we heard about that!" he said as Rebecca blushed bright copper.

While the gargoyles had been talking, Marcel LeBeau, who had driven them in, had been talking with his cousins who owned the house, Willie and Ruby LeBeau. But now they came over, and invited the gargoyles to come into the house for some good hot gumbo; there was plenty left over from the patrollers' first meal of the night, and they thought the courting couples would want something to eat before heading out on the town.

The gumbo was delicious, but as soon as Marie was finished she got up and began tugging on Brooklyn's arm, saying it was past time they got officially started on their date.

Robert had already eaten and Rebecca had scarfed her food down quickly, so they were up from the table already, and applying a special type of spray-on black body paint to most of Rebecca's body. Robert looked up from where he was spraying on the back of Rebecca's wings, and commented, "Give me ten seconds more, and I'll be done here and help you with your wings."

"Oh, I'm not wearing any feather-paint this evening," Marie said airily. "After all, I'm not patrolling tonight; we're here to have fun!"

"To have fun, and be spotted by the first tourist that looks up!" Robert shook his head. "If you end up on the front page of the _Times-Picayune_, I'm telling Adam it was all your idea."

Brooklyn thought Robert had a good point; Marie's light pink skin and white wings would make her stand out in the night sky at least as much as Rebecca's golden form. Anyone who happened to look up while she was gliding overhead couldn't fail to notice her.

But once more, he held his tongue. After all, he and his clan hadn't made any particular effort not to be noticed by people, for their entire first year after awakening in the modern world. It wasn't until after Elisa had flat-out begged them to keep a lower profile, after hearing about how Tony Dracon was offering bounties for anyone who brought him solid proof of the existence of those creatures called gargoyles—solid proof, as in a gargoyle's head—that they had begun making serious efforts to stay in the shadows as much as possible, and vanish immediately after foiling crimes.

Besides, even during that first year when they'd been seen by a fair number of people, nobody had taken the eyewitness accounts seriously. Elisa said they'd been thought of as "urban legends", like alligators in the sewers. Anyone who saw Marie gliding overhead, unless they whipped out a camera quick and got a very clear picture of her, would probably be laughed off as well. Particularly since her white feathered wings were very unlike the leathery wings of the Manhattan Clan, the only gargoyles that had made themselves publicly known. Reports of "bird-women" or "angels" down in New Orleans would probably be relegated to the tabloids too.

Brooklyn shrugged, and let Marie lead him out into the night. He'd been hearing so much lately about all the attractions this town had to offer, surely at least a few of them would be worth seeing even in less-than-ideal company…

* * *

Rebecca couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief once Marie was gone. And after Robert had handed her back the spray can, she closed her eyes and held her breath, gave herself a shot of spray in the face, then opened her eyes and looked at Lexington. "How do I look?"

"Much darker," Lex assured her. There are still some glimmers of gold showing through here and there, but I don't think any human would see you in the dark without night-vision goggles. So, where are we going first?"

"Most tourists to New Orleans start with _Vieux__ Carré_—you've probably heard of it as the French Quarter," Robert said helpfully. "But if I know Marie, she's probably taking Brooklyn there right now, to check out all of Bourbon Street and spend some time listening in on the players at Pat O'Brien's piano bar. So if you'd rather that your paths didn't cross again tonight…"

"Yes, we'd rather," Lex said emphatically, even before Rebecca could say so.

"Thought so. Anyway, I'd suggest starting your tour elsewhere. We've got the Garden District, the Cities of the Dead—that's the cemeteries; the oldest ones are pretty famous, and we patrol two of them regularly for muggers. But that's 'shop talk', sorry. Anyway, there are any number of places to go that Marie's not likely to take Brooklyn to, at least not at first."

"The Aquarium of the Americas!" Rebecca said as she snapped her talons. "Marie would never go there; to her, it's all just a bunch of fish. But it's really a must-see attraction! They've got this walkway that runs right through a model Caribbean reef, with fish of every color of the rainbow swimming all around you, even right over your head! Eels and sea turtles and sharks and, well, at least one of every kind of sea creature to be found swimming in or around North, South or Central America!"

"Sounds cool," Lex said with a grin (and Rebecca's heart gave another little jump for joy. Even offline, he liked what she liked!) "Like being able to walk around underwater without drowning! We have an aquarium up in New York, too, but we never found a good way to sneak inside without being noticed."

"It helps if you have someone in the clan who used to work there," Rebecca confided with a grin. "Ben LeBeau works as a building contractor, and he fixed one of the top floor windows back in 1990, before the place even opened to the public, so we can sneak inside whenever we want." She turned to Robert and said apologetically, "Sorry to go without you, but…"

Robert just gave a grin and a wave of his hand. "I can always go some other time; right now, duty calls, and the others are probably wondering what's taking me so long."

But Rebecca still felt a bit bad; she knew that Robert, an artist in oils and clay sculpture, loved to go to the aquarium and find inspiration for his paintings in the brightly-colored fish and their environment. And Robert really was her closest rookery brother; she wanted him and Lex to get to know and like each other.

She said as much, and Robert responded with, "Well, I was thinking about just staying in New Orleans anyway after my patrol rotation ends. You and Lex go out and enjoy your courting tonight and tomorrow, and then if you'd still welcome a third wing while you show Lex the city, I can join you for the next few nights."

Rebecca thought it was a great idea, but Lex looked somewhat hesitant. Robert noticed the look and said with a smile and a wink, "Oh, don't worry; I'm not going to play chaperone! Or act like a human brother and threaten to beat you to a pulp if you don't treat her right. If you want to sneak off for a while, I'll just turn a blind eye… even if you come back later with your loincloth on backwards. And I could even point out to you a few items they sell in the French Market; items that I can tell you from personal experience are effective gargoyle aphrodisiacs…"

"_Rob_!" Rebecca wailed in embarrassment, but Robert only gave her an unrepentant grin.

_To be continued…_


	4. Touring the Big Easy

**4.4: Touring "The Big Easy"**

Brooklyn was surprised to discover that, once she was away from her rookery sisters, Marie was actually pleasant company. It was as if, once she didn't have any other females around that she felt she had to compete with and/or dominate, she relaxed and let her fun side show.

They glided all up and down Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, seeing all the sights there, and spent a good long while sitting on a rooftop across from Pat O'Brien's, which was supposed to be one of the world's most famous bars. Marie told him that Pat O'Brien's was really five bars in one, and they listened to the music and singing wafting from the indoor piano bar, where musicians were taking customer requests, while watching the lovely 'fire-fountain' that was the centerpiece of the outdoor patio bar.

When they heard songs made for dancing to, they danced as well; Marie was an accomplished dancer, and Brooklyn was a quick learner, having been shown the Cajun Two-Step and Cajun Shuffle at last Thursday night's _fais__ do-do_. He even taught her a few of the dances that they had done at the Equinox and Solstice festivals back in the old clan in Scotland, when the songs wafting up from below had the right rhythm.

"You're a fast learner yourself," Brooklyn told Marie with a grin, after leading her through the steps of a hornpipe dance that the gargoyles of old had adapted for themselves, after watching humans dancing at a _ceilidh_.

"Why, thank you!" she giggled, as she spun about and flicked her tail to the beat. "I learn faster when it's fun—and this is! _Whee_!" as she spun again, touching her left hand and tail-tip to his along the way.

Brooklyn could have stayed there most of the night, but soon, Marie urged that they move on, as there was a great deal more of New Orleans that she wanted to show him. They eventually left the French Quarter and glided into the Garden District, following the streetcar path along St. Charles Avenue.

While Brooklyn wasn't really into architecture, he had to admit that the old and stately houses lining St. Charles were indeed full of grace and beauty. He also noticed that some of the trees lining that street had glittery things stuck here and there in their branches. Marie explained, "Those are throws, from past Mardi Gras parades! This street is on the route for nearly half of the parades during Mardi Gras, and sometime the beads and souvenirs that are thrown from the floats are thrown too high, and get stuck in the branches. If they're up too high and on branches too thin for humans to climb up and get to easily, they're just left there; it's a little colorful reminder all year round of the biggest event of the year." Then Marie gave him a mischievous smile as she added, "But since Mardi Gras isn't for months yet…"

She glided down to swoop past and snag a half-dozen bead necklaces from the upper branches of a few of the trees. She put two of them around her own neck, then glided back up to his level but a few yards away, and called out with a smile, "You're supposed to say, 'T'row me sum'ting, missy!' "

"T'row me sum'ting, missy!" Brooklyn called out with a grin, and laughed as she flung the necklaces in his direction, one after another. He swooped and grabbed and caught them all, then put all four necklaces on together. "How do I look?"

"Suitably festive! You've just got to be here for the real thing; everybody loves Mardi Gras," Marie said with a smile as she glided in close again, to hold his outstretched hand.

* * *

Lex loved the Aquarium of the Americas; it was like exploring a whole new world! He and Rebecca walked hand in hand down the empty corridors, and through clear tubes that had them surrounded by water and every variety of sea life on all sides. 

After eventually leaving the aquarium, they glided over to the Audubon Zoological Gardens. Zoos in themselves were nothing new to Lexington, not after gliding over the Central Park Zoo on a regular basis (it was part of Patrol Route D back home.) He'd even seen the Queens Wildlife Center once, and had seen plenty of pictures in the local newspapers about the Prospect Park Wildlife Center in Brooklyn and the Bronx Zoo. But he had to admit that the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans had one particular animal that the other zoos didn't have…

"Whoa; albino alligators!" he said as he stared at the medium-sized alligator with a yellow-white scaly hide, snoozing on a marshy shore.

"They're not albino," Rebecca corrected him. "Albino animals have pink eyes, and are usually pretty sickly. These boys all have blue eyes, and they're healthy as can be! The paper says the proper term for them is 'leucistic'." Then she shrugged while adding, "Most folks just call 'em white."

"Like the blue-eyed white tigers that Siegfried and Roy have in Las Vegas," Lex mused.

Rebecca grinned. "Rumor has it the zoo's trying to get their hands on a pair of those, too! As well as some jaguars; there are plans for a 'Jaguar Jungle' that's supposed to recreate the South American jungles, with some ancient Mayan culture thrown in. And would you believe they're even planning on getting some komodo dragons! Those lizards are supposed to get almost as big as gators, and they're a lot more rare... Well, rarer than regular gators, but not as rare as white gators."

"Is the zoo trying to breed more of these gators?"

"They'd love to! But there's a little problem; these gators all came from one clutch of eggs found back in 1987, and they're all, every last one of 'em, male. They're the only ones of their kind, and unless we get really lucky, they'll probably stay that way."

Lex nodded solemnly. "I know how that feels."

* * *

After leaving the zoo, Rebecca led Lex to the French Quarter, judging that Marie would probably have led Brooklyn elsewhere by then. 

The aquarium held schools of exotic fish, and the zoological gardens held entire herds of exotic animals, but to Lex's way of thinking, the French Quarter was the place to go for viewing exotic humans. They glided along and occasionally perched on rooftops, just looking down and listening while Lex marveled at all the sights and sounds. "Wow… this is almost like the block parties we see on holidays back home! And it's like this every night?"

"Every night," Rebecca confirmed with a smile. That's our motto down here, '_Laissez les bontemps rouler_'; let the good times—uh oh."

"What is it?" Lex asked, then looked at where she was pointing and agreed, "Uh-oh." She had spotted a man loitering in an alley, with that deceptively lazy attitude about him that the gargoyles, themselves a breed of hunters, recognized instantly as _predator waiting for prey_.

Rebecca looked up and around, and muttered, "Martin and Cecilia must be at the other end of the street. Mind if we mix a little work with our play?"

"I was just about to suggest that," Lex said as they settled onto perches where they could observe the alley. And not five minutes later, a woman came walking alone down the street, a tourist who had clearly had a couple drinks too many; she was swaying slightly as she walked and smiling at everything and nothing. The man in the alley got up from his leaning pose against the wall, seeming to coil himself like a viper as he prepared to strike.

But Rebecca struck first, swooping in from behind to knock him off his feet just as he was about to reach out and grab the woman. Instead of being grabbed, the woman shrieked as the man fell sprawling at her feet, and a black winged shape whipped past inches from her head. The woman turned and ran unsteadily for the safety of the nearest open bar, leaving her would-be mugger or rapist unconscious on the sidewalk.

Rebecca glided back up for a bit, and Lex gave her a thumbs-up for a job well done, then watched in puzzlement as she did a fast loop to land inside the alley, behind the man she'd just knocked unconscious. Rebecca yanked the man's shoes off, tied the shoelaces together and threw them over her shoulder as she climbed back up to the roof. She explained with a wink as she set the shoes down on the roof, "Keith Bayard is the only clan member in the NOPD right now, but all the cops in this quarter have learned to keep an eye on guys who suddenly start walking around without shoes. I'll tell Keith where to find the shoes later, so he can arrange to give them back to Mr. Mugger down there once he's in jail."

"Pretty neat idea," Lex said with a grin. "We should try that back home sometime!" But he liked even more the evidence he'd just seen that Rebecca was not only a technophile like him, but a competent warrior in her own right. And cute as could be, too; what more could a guy ask for?

* * *

Brooklyn had been having a good time, and the night was far from over, so he was puzzled when Marie led him back to the safe house. "Oh, we're got more places to go yet," she assured him, "but I need to pick something up first." 

She had him wait outside on a roof across the street while she dashed inside through the skylight, then emerged moments later with a black garment bag in her hands. "Next stop, Harrah's!"

And they glided over to Harrah's Casino, just outside the French Quarter. Marie led him to land in an alley nearby, then opened the garment bag and took out a long, flowing white satin gown and a satin garter, like the ones that the brides had worn for the recent weddings back in Manhattan.

Marie slipped the garter onto her left leg, but only as high as mid-calf, then wound her tail around that leg and slipped the tip through the garter. "Just a little reminder to keep it tucked in," she explained with a wink before she turned her back, took off her halter top (and dangled it invitingly at her side for a second, making Brooklyn swallow hard) and slipped the white gown on. The gown was backless to allow for her wings, but swept clear to the ground to completely cover her legs and feet. She turned around (and _oh my_, that gown had a low plunging neckline!) and took Brooklyn's arm with a smile. "Come on; let's go!"

"Go where?" Brooklyn asked after he managed to take his eyes off her cleavage.

"Why, inside the casino, of course!"

"**_What?_** Inside, with humans everywhere?" Even though it was past two a.m. now, the casino was clearly far from empty.

"Oh, relax," Marie chided as she patted his arm. "Yvette and I do this all the time, when our patrols are over! So long as my legs and tail are covered and I don't make my fangs or talons obvious, everyone thinks I'm wearing an angel costume, and that she's costumed as a demoness; we're paired up as representations of Heaven and Hell! Since there are always a few costume wearers around town at any time of year, we've never had any trouble."

"And Adam is okay with this?" Brooklyn asked uneasily as she tugged him towards the entrance.

"I prefer to think that what he doesn't know, won't hurt him," Marie said blithely as they stepped into the light.

Shit, someone was looking their way already! But he wasn't shouting or pointing at them; it was more of a curious and mildly interested look than anything else. Brooklyn swallowed hard, straightened his spine and let Marie lead him through the casino's open doors.

There was glitter and glitz aplenty inside the casino; enough lights and shiny things to put the New York skyline in shadow. And Marie strolled through the main lobby as casually as if she did this every night, with Brooklyn on her arm. They snagged some munchies from the free hors de'ouvres trays, and even stopped so Marie could put a few coins down at a roulette table—and nobody tried to stop them! Nobody looked at him in terror, or screamed, or anything… this was _great_!

Then somebody actually came up to them with a smile on his face, and told Brooklyn, "Great costume! I'd almost swear you're a devil straight from Hell itself!"

And the fun was gone, just like that. Brooklyn felt like he'd just gotten a bucket of cold water thrown onto him. He remembered all too well the first time he'd heard someone say something like that…

And the man saying it had _not_ been smiling. Instead, he'd been scowling, and raising his staff to strike a blow…

It was one of Brooklyn's worst memories from his hatchling nights. He'd wandered away from his brothers and sisters, looking to snag some food from the humans' kitchen, for himself and his big blue-green brother who was always hungry. And the priest who had arrived at the castle after Brother Edmund had been taken away, had caught him alone in the passageway. Caught him alone, and sworn that of all the monsters that plagued the castle, this one was surely a demon sent straight from Hell to torment innocent souls! So the priest rebuked him with Scripture, and when the young brick-red hatchling had just stared at him uncomprehendingly, had followed it up with a far more physical form of rebuke.

The brick-red hatchling had dodged the first blow from the staff, while screaming for help; but as he'd turned to run away, the second blow had impacted squarely on his little tail. The pain of the bones instantly breaking had been agonizing, and he'd fallen sobbing to the ground; it would have been easy for the maddened priest to finish him off. But a rookery keeper who had been tracking her wandering charge had heard his cry and rushed in, knocking the priest off his feet before he could land another blow and rushing the hatchling to safety.

The incident had caused an immediate uproar between the clan and the humans inhabiting the castle. A human had _attacked a hatchling_! A gargoyle had _attacked a priest_! The two cohabiting species had nearly come to blows, before Prince Malcolm had forcibly restored order. After separating the would-be combatants, the prince promised the people he ruled that the gargoyle who had done the deed would be soundly punished… then quietly asked her to just stay in the rookery and out of sight for the next few moons. The prince promised the gargoyles that the priest would be punished too, but if he was, they never saw any evidence of it.

Not that the hatchling knew about any of that at the time; he only heard about it again years later, when Malcolm died and friction between the species began rising again. All he knew was that he spent the rest of that night sobbing in a corner of the rookery, while the keepers gave him their primitive analgesics to try to dull the pain, and set the bones in his tail so it would heal properly with a good day's sleep. The next night, the pain in his tail was gone… but Brooklyn still carried the scars in his heart. He wasn't like Demona, convinced that all humans were scum who should be eradicated from the face of the earth, but he still didn't fully trust strangers not to attack the moment his back was turned.

"Marie… I'm ready to go now," he muttered to her, even as the same man who'd complimented Brooklyn on his 'costume' was complimenting Marie on hers, and wondering aloud with a sly wink if she'd show him a slice of Heaven that night.

Marie demurred the man's suggestion with a smile, and after he left she gave Brooklyn's suggestion the same treatment. They hadn't been there even fifteen minutes; there was so much more inside that she wanted him to see! They had rooms lined with lovely artwork and statuary, and bars with jazz musicians playing around the clock, and etc. and etc.

But it didn't take long for Brooklyn to figure out that wasn't the real reason why she wanted to stay. Marie just liked the attention she was getting from all the humans here, who were all admiring either her beautiful white wings or her daring interpretation of an angel by wearing a wig of white feathers for hair (and most of the men seemed to be admiring her cleavage as well.) She loved it, as much as Brooklyn was growing to hate it. He tried again to suggest that they leave, but she again demurred; she just couldn't or wouldn't understand.

Brooklyn contemplated simply leaving her there and walking out the doors, but decided against it. If anything went wrong and the people here discovered she wasn't human after all, she'd probably need backup to escape. He decided to stay, to tough it out… and take it as another reminder of why, despite the fun they'd had for a few hours, Marie was _not_ on his list of possible mates.

_To be continued…_

Ceilidh -_ 'kelI_ - originally an informal social gathering among neighbors, with or without singing, playing instruments, story-telling etc., spontaneously performed by some or all of those present; a visit, chat, gossip. The Concise Scots Dictionary


	5. Correcting Assumptions

**4.5: Correcting Assumptions**

Well, the night was still far from over; there were still at least a couple hours till dawn. But this date was definitely over, and try as he might, Brooklyn didn't feel even slightly bad about that.

He flew slightly behind Marie as she led him back to the safe house, and kept his beak firmly clamped shut as her muttered litany of curses and imprecations drifted back to his ears. She was soundly condemning youngsters in general and two human children in particular; the ones who had ruined her dress…

They had been walking past a winding staircase in the casino when Brooklyn thought that he'd heard somebody actually calling his name, from somewhere behind him. Had Lex and Rebecca joined them in the casino? He'd hung back for a moment and turned around to look, but hadn't seen the other gargoyles; just more humans milling about the gambling tables.

He'd decided that instead of his name, he'd overheard someone talking about Brooklyn the borough of New York, and had been just about to turn around again when he'd heard a _splat_ sound coming from right behind him… and Marie's shriek of surprise and outrage. He turned around fast, to see the right side of her gown and her right wing adorned with a bright red liquid and thin scraps of blue rubber.

Looking around quickly for the source of the attack, he spied two wide-eyed youngsters standing on the staircase as it wound above their heads; twin redheaded human kids, from the looks of them a boy and a girl. And the little girl of the pair was holding what looked like a bright green ball in her hands… no, it was a balloon; probably a water balloon! He figured that out just as the pair of kids bolted up the stairs, scurrying as quickly as they could for the hotel rooms above the casino floor. No doubt they had deduced from the curses Marie as already spewing out, that remaining where they were to face her wrath would be bad for their continued health.

He turned again to face Marie, who was still cursing while staring incredulously and in growing rage at the red liquid seeping into her dress and the feathers of her wings; the little brats had filled their water balloon with Kool-Aid!

Later on, he figured out that the brats must have been aiming for his head, but when he'd hung back for a moment, the tossed water balloon had hit Marie's right shoulder instead. But right then, he had more immediate concerns… Casino personnel were already hurrying over, alerted by the fuss, and Brooklyn grabbed Marie and hissed, "You've got to calm down, _right now_. Or we'll be in deep trouble! Your eyes are _red_, and you're showing your _fangs_!"

And angels weren't supposed to have red-glowing eyes and fangs… Marie shut her mouth fast, but couldn't extinguish the light of rage in her eyes. So she kept her head down and her eyes mostly closed, while Brooklyn dealt with the casino personnel. The staff expressed again and again how sorry they were for the disruption and damage to the costume caused by one of their guests, and assured the couple that it would never happen again, and Harrah's would be happy to compensate them for the damage done. But Brooklyn ushered Marie towards the exit while telling the staff repeatedly that he and his date had to get home and out of that costume before the stain set, so they just didn't have time to visit the manager's office, thank you very much… In the end, Brooklyn accepted on Marie's behalf a voucher good for $100 worth of gambling chips, just as they exited the casino.

Now in the air and gliding back to the safe house, Brooklyn decided that if he ever ran into those two kids again, even if they had really been aiming for him, he would only give them a stern talking to about putting Kool-Aid into their water balloons… and he'd have to restrain himself from actually thanking them. Marie was highly enraged, but all Brooklyn could feel was relief that they had left the casino at last.

When they arrived back at the safe house, they found three gargoyles there; Robert, and the mated pair Lucy and Erasmus. Lucy, a light blue female with a black mane and a sympathetic smile, had hurried Marie into the shower to get the Kool-Aid out of her feathers. Erasmus and Robert both agreed that Marie would be gone for at least an hour; even after the red stain was washed out, it would take some time to dry out Marie's feathers and get them presentable again. And afterwards, Robert added dryly, Marie would use the excuse to primp and preen in front of the mirror again. "You likely won't see her until it's time to head back to the estate."

Erasmus, a bovine-type gargoyle with a red hide and chestnut-brown feathered wings, asked curiously, "How did she get Kool-Aid spilled on herself, anyway?"

Brooklyn paused, then said diplomatically, "I'll let Marie tell that story herself, if she wants to."

Erasmus shrugged, then left the kitchen area to go watch some late-night TV show. Once he was gone, Robert said knowingly, "She went into Harrah's again, didn't she?"

Brooklyn wordlessly offered him the voucher for gambling chips, and Robert sighed. "Thought so. She drags Yvette in there as often as she thinks they can get away with it. Well, maybe now she'll avoid the place for a while… but how did it happen, exactly?"

Brooklyn told him, and Robert snorted with laughter. "Wish I'd been there to see it! I'd have been tempted to slip those kids a twenty later. Hey, is your guy Lexington really as much of a hardware wizard as Rebecca said he is when she called yesterday? Maybe we could get our hands on those security tapes for some entertainment viewing. Oh, don't worry, we wouldn't show them to Adam or your Goliath; Marie made the four of us who know about the casino trips swear an oath of secrecy. But a tape of that incident would become our generation's greatest treasure!"

"Marie's not well liked, is she?" Brooklyn said with a shake of his head.

"Have you ever heard the term 'queen bee' applied to human females?"

"Yeah; I read a review for a book about it, in a Sunday paper supplement a few weeks ago."

"Well, 'queen bee syndrome' applies to Marie, too. She's been pulling that dominance stuff since we were all in the rookery together; she had a clique going with Yvette, Cecilia, Bernadette and Joan, with herself as the top banana, naturally. The other three females were basically the outcasts, or at least Rebecca and Martha were; Isabel made it plain that she didn't give a stone shard about the whole thing. Which infuriated Marie, of course, and it was her efforts to bring Isabel down one way or another that finally led to the whole thing blowing up in her face. Eight years ago she tried to sabotage one of Isabel's sculptures, was caught red-handed at it, and was banished to the bayou for four nights. During that time, Ursula sat the rest of our generation down and gave everyone some pop psychology lessons. By the time Marie came back, her circle of power was broken; we'd all learned our lesson about her. But _she_ hasn't--she didn't learn even after Martin, Adelbert and Thomas chose other females for mates--and she probably never will. Since you haven't tried to object to any of this, I'm assuming you've already seen her for what she is?"

"Yes; she hid it well at first, but I've had some experience before with manipulative females," Brooklyn said grimly.

Robert nodded. "I probably should be urging you to choose her for courting, and take her with you to New York; that would get her out of our collective hair at last. But frankly, I wouldn't wish her on anybody."

"Speaking of courting…" Brooklyn uneasily scratched his mane. "Look, I come from an age where we sort-of had to mix politeness and niceties in with a lot of practicality and necessity. So pardon me for speaking bluntly, okay? But I'd better say this now, before things go any further."

Robert went still, and gave him a wary look. "All right…"

"Okay. So we've got five ladies looking for mates, and only one of them is pretty much already spoken for; that's Rebecca. Another one has pretty much crossed herself off my list, whether or not she realizes it; that's Marie. And Martha, well, she's nice enough but she just doesn't seem my type, though I admit that could possibly change once I get to know her better. But right now, the ones that appeal to me the most are Yvette and Isabel. But before I make any decisions, I want to know: when the Breeding Moon comes, which of them are _you_ interested in going on a breeding flight with?"

Robert gaped at him, then shook his head and opened his mouth to answer. But Brooklyn hurriedly went on, "I know you had a human mate, or at least a lover; Rebecca told us that on the way in tonight. And I understand perfectly if you're still in mourning about losing her; no doubt she was a lovely lady, a credit to both species. If Goliath ever lost Elisa, his human mate, he'd be so heartbroken that he'd probably—well, anyway. Like I said, back in the Middle Ages we had to be practical sometimes. There's a Breeding Moon coming up, and even if you don't actually love any of them, you're probably going to be asked to… to contribute to the limited gene pool. If Adam hasn't already thought of that, Goliath is sure to suggest it to him. And hey, sometimes a breeding couple starts out as just friends, and they grow to really love each other later on. So, I'm asking again: which female would you rather go breed eggs with? Give me a name, and I'll try to steer her in your direction instead of courting her myself."

Instead of giving him a name, Robert gave a sad chuckle. "Oh, lordy… Brooklyn, how good is your memory? Can you repeat, word for word, what Rebecca told you earlier?"

Brooklyn frowned, but thought back and did his best. "She said, 'Robert hasn't had a mate that the clan ever acknowledged'—no, she said 'ever _officially_ acknowledged. But he did have a human lover. They were happy together for over five years. But this last April, at Easter'—no, she said 'just before Easter, there was a car accident during the day, and Robert is alone now.' That might not be word-for-word, but it should be pretty close."

"Oh, it was close enough." Robert shook his head again. "Good ol' 'Becca; she tries her best to avoid hurting anyone… and all too often it backfires. In this case, she left out something crucial… but I'm not surprised. You want to know why I've been out here without a patrol partner? When Adam recalled Isabel, he should have recalled me too, and sent another pair out… but everyone was afraid to have me on the estate when you all arrived. Because I'm different from everyone else, and they didn't know how well gargoyles who were hatched in the Middle Ages could handle 'different'. But I'm damned if I'm going to hide it now, particularly since you brought the subject up," as he dug into a pocket of his shorts, and pulled out a thin wallet. "Brooklyn, I'm about to show you a picture of my human lover…"

And the small picture framed by the leather case of the wallet… had a full mustache.

"His name was Philip Rogers, and he played football for the New Orleans Saints," Robert said quietly. Then his voice gained a hard, sarcastic edge as he added, "And if you feel like making any 'faggot' or 'queer' remarks, you'd better do it now, before Rebecca gets back. I've heard them all, and acquired a thick hide over the years, but if _she_ hears it she's apt to rip your tail off."

Brooklyn just gave a small chuckle and shook his head. "Yeah, I noticed she's protective of you. Honestly, I was wondering why you and she weren't mates already… but this answers that question. So, your clan never really accepted Philip as a proper mate? Pardon my asking, but was it because your scent didn't get a 'mated' marker?"

Robert stared at him. "You… you're okay with homosexual gargoyles?"

Brooklyn shrugged. "Well, this is hardly a new concept. You should talk to Goliath sometime; two of his rookery brothers were attracted to males instead of females. And it's just as well that they both were, because his rookery generation had two fewer females than males, and otherwise they would have both just gone mateless."

Robert tossed his horse-head back and laughed, long and hard; laughter that was likely born of relief as much as amusement. Lucy, walking past on her way to join her mate in the TV room, gave them a curious look but didn't interrupt. Finally Robert stopped laughing, long enough to say, "And here everyone was worried about how you'd be so offended and outraged, that you'd either demand I be banished immediately, or turn around and head right back to New York!"

Now Brooklyn snorted. "Fat chance! I'll be honest, it's always been considered kind of odd… but so is actually liking _turnips_, and Broadway used to eat those all the time. And like I just said, when a rookery clutch hatches more males than females--which is what usually happens, by the way; I'm sure even Hudson would agree that your clan's current situation is utterly unique in gargoyle history—anyway, when there're more males than females, the excess males will want some sort of close companionship. And if they find it in each other instead of trying to lure females away from their mates, well, that's better for the clan's overall harmony! And sometimes we see a gargoyle who's attracted to both males and females, like--"

"_Oh, __Brooklyn_!" Marie sang sweetly, from the gargoyles' bathroom. "Would you be a dear and come in here, please? I could use a little help…"

Robert took one look at Brooklyn's suddenly panicked expression and snickered. "Go out the skylight; I'll her you went for a short glide five minutes ago. And don't come back for another half-hour or so…"

Brooklyn skedaddled. He spent the next half-hour cruising the streets nearby, listening to snatches of conversation and to a radio that someone had tuned to a jazz station. As he went back, he spotted coming down the street the clan's delivery truck, coming to take him and Marie back to the estate before dawn. Lex and Rebecca wouldn't be joining them for the ride back; they'd already arranged to stay at the safe house instead. So the atmosphere for the ride back shouldn't be as hostile as it had been for the ride out… but he worried that Marie would decide to use the time alone with him to try to seduce him again.

Brooklyn realized what he was thinking, and shook his head. Now he was worried about being alone with a beautiful female who was interested in him, when last week it would have been his fondest dream! Wasn't life just full of ironies?

Well, hopefully tomorrow's date with Martha would be more pleasant all around. He headed for the skylight, unconsciously singing under his breath, "_Just waiting for this night to be over_…"

THE END


End file.
